Preface to Critical Reading [antikvár]

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITIONIt is now fourteen years since Preface to Critical Reading was first published, and its continuing acceptance suggests that it still has a useful role to play in American college education.In this newly revised edition, I have tried to give the book both added strength and added flexibility. As in preceding editions, "dated" material has been replaced by fresh; but many illustrations and exercises have been retained from earlier editions when it has been evident that they continue to serve the purpose for which they were originally intended.Chapter Three, on "Patterns of Clear Thinking," has been thoroughly revised in the light of suggestions offered by professional logicians. Every effort, however, has been made to keep the chapter as simple as is desirable in a composition course, even at the risk of oversimplifying complex matters.In response to many teachers' urging, the book has been slanted more definitely toward the improvement of students' writing. The intimate relationship between critical reading and effective writing, hitherto left more or less implicit, is now specifically defined and analyzed. In particular, numerous exercises that require the actual composition of paragraphs and essays have been included. In some exercises, the student is led to apply the subject matter of the preceding textfor example, the function of connotation or the importance of estimating readers' capabilities and expectationsto his own writing. Other exercises are designed to encourage in the student a deeper awareness of the practical problems of language by asking him to comment on quoted material that deals directly with these topics.The total number of exercises in the book has been substantially